Joey Preston, two others referred to criminal investigators for roles in Ron Wilson's business

ANDERSON - South Carolina criminal investigators with the Attorney General's Office have been asked to look into whether former Anderson County administrator Joey Preston and two others committed any crimes as part of an allegedly fraudulent silver business run by Ron Wilson.

Preston said in a Friday afternoon statement that he had no prior knowledge of improper actions and had provided information to prosecutors that has helped the case against Wilson.

Wilson, a former Anderson County Council member, has been charged with federal offenses of fraud and mail fraud for allegedly using his Atlantic Bullion & Coin company to take tens of millions of dollars while buying little, if any, silver for investors.

State investigators have ceded their criminal investigation of Ron Wilson to federal officials, said Brian Stirling, deputy South Carolina attorney general. Stirling's comments echo those of his boss, Alan Wilson, the attorney general, who said in Anderson earlier this month that the federal officials have greater resources to prosecute the criminal case against Ron Wilson. The two Wilsons are not related.

Stirling said civil investigators from the state's securities office are continuing to look at possible civil charges against Ron Wilson.

In the course of looking into Wilson's business, investigators had "come across information indicating potential criminal conduct" and have referred Preston, Wallace Lindsey Howell and Tracy Neily (also known as Tracy Atwell) to a state grand jury, according to a criminal referral letter dated May 8.

Stirling provided the letter after speaking with the Independent Mail on Thursday. The letter is signed by Tracy Meyers, senior assistant attorney general, and is addressed to the attorney general.

The three named in the criminal referral letter had some sort of business relationship with Wilson and his company, Stirling said.

Stirling said he could not comment on what, if anything, criminal investigators have done with the referral but said it is typical for civil investigators to send such requests if they come across possible criminal actions.

Wilson is the only person who has been charged.

He was arrested in March and posted a $1 million bail. His case is scheduled to be heard in a Greenville federal courtroom in August.

Neily owned and operated a Powdersville investment company, Professional Planning Inc., that shut its doors the same day that state officials made public the accusations against Wilson.

Neily, who most investors knew as Tracy Atwell, referred numerous people to Wilson's business, investors have told the Independent Mail. She was a personable talker who did much of the sales pitches at meetings that the gruff Wilson hosted at Powdersville restaurants, meetings that happened as recently as a few days before the allegations were made public, investors said.

The state's case against Wilson heavily relies on the distinction between securities and commodities and investigators say that Wilson was not licensed to sell securities and had signed a cease-and-desist notice from state officials in 1996 in which he agreed to not sell securities.

Little is known about Howell, but questionnaires submitted by investors said many of them were referred to Wilson by a man named Lindsey Howell.

Preston told investigators that he had directed people to Wilson's company, according to an affidavit by a U.S. Secret Service agent.

The former county administrator told senior agent Thomas Griffin during a March 26 interview that he had talked to Wilson in the prior week and Wilson had admitted that his silver business was "operated as a Ponzi scheme and that there were insufficient silver holdings to repay investments," according to the affidavit.

Preston talked to Wilson on March 13, the day after the complaint by the state attorney general was signed, said Candy Kern-Fuller, one of Preston's attorneys, in a previous interview.

Kern-Fuller, who said she lost money in Wilson's business, said Preston was a victim like the other investors and, like others, Preston's purported success in Wilson's investment business was used to bring new clients into the scheme.

Preston said, in a written statement to the Independent Mail on Friday afternoon, that he had cooperated with both state and federal investigators and was disappointed in the decision to refer him to criminal investigators.

"I gave the prosecutors important information used in the prosecution's case against Wilson," Preston's statement says. "I, like many others, would have never done business with Ron Wilson or AB&C had I known these items were considered securities or that the silver did not exist."

Kern-Fuller said Preston would not be commenting beyond the written statement.

About 945 investors lost at least $59 million in Wilson's scheme, according to the most recent figures from federal officials. Wilson's business took in $71 million in the past three years, state investigators have determined, but much of that money went to satisfy investors who wanted to cash out.

There are two lawsuits that may become class actions.

One names Wilson, Neily (as Tracy Atwell), her ex-husband and convicted tax evader Ed Atwell and Professional Planning as defendants.

The other lawsuit names Wilson, his business and Jena Eison, vice president of Atlantic Bullion & Coin.

Eison has told investigators she had no knowledge of any fraudulent actions by the company because Wilson handled all of the silver accounts.